A Serpent Among the Eagles

Chapter Twelve - The Match

  Was sleeping well before a Quidditch match a physical possibility? It may be for most, but when the teams facing off were to be your father's house and the one person you thought of as a brother... Let's just say Lily was likely the most exhausted in the Great Hall. Scratch that, here comes Harry...

  She broke into his mind.

  Long night...?

  He caught her eye from across the nearly-empty Hall.

  Yeah. You too?

  Well yeah, it's Father's house against yours, and of course Draco thinks I'm a spy for him, meaning I can't openly cheer for your team or I'll ruin that, besides, Father would likely kill me... But of course I'm not cheering for Slytherin...

  Right. So you are for Gryfinndor?

  Of course I am. Harry, I've been coming to Hogwarts my whole life, staying in Father's quarters. Don't you think I've noticed that Slytherin has won the Cup for the past seven years? Seriously, I want to see another house get it as much as anyone. I'd love to see it be Ravenclaw, of course, but Gryfinndor's the next best choice.

  Right.

  Lily later made her way to the pitch, alone. Lost in thought, she didn't notice the second-year boy picking up his papers.

  "Oh! I'm sorry!" she cried as she ran into him. "I didn't mean to -"

  "It's quite alright, really."

  "Here, let me help you..."

  "No need, you should go..."

  "Just get this one here..."

  She handed the boy several papers she had managed to pick up, and he mumbled his thanks.

  "Romulus?"

  He looked up. "Lily! I didn't notice it was you!"

  She smiled. "Same. I was..."

  "Lost in thought?"

  His sterling eyes showed that he understood.

  "Yeah. Slytherin against Gryfinndor, you know."

  "Your father against Harry."

  It never ceased to amaze her how he always knew what was going on in someone's mind. She also had the gift of reading someone's deepest thoughts through their eyes, but his went even deeper.

  "Yeah..."

  "If you don't mind my asking, which House are you for?"

  She gave him a calculating glance. "You know I can't take sides Romulus. As many friends as I have in your House, you can't forget that my father is head of the opposition."

  "Yes."

  She smiled. "I need to go."

  He nodded. "Of course."

  As she walked away, she heard the sound of Romulus running into someone else. As brilliant as he was, he had a horrid habit of losing himself in daydreams.

  During the match, Lily made no outward sign that she cared which team won. Inwardly, however, a struggle against cheering out loud when the Gryfinndors scored, against laughing with Lee Jordan's commentary, against breaking into Harry's mind again, a violent struggle against these things was taking place.

  The match had been going on for only minutes when she noticed Hagrid attempting to make his way into the stands on the opposite side. She smirked and watched as Harry came out of a loop-the-loop.

  She noted a glint of gold above a Slytherin Chaser's left ear, quickly getting into Harry's mind.

  I see it, thanks.

  No problem.

  Lily barely suppressed a groan when Marcus Flint blocked Harry.

  She privately agreed with Lee Jordan's verbal assault on Flint, though she said nothing.

  Absorbed in the rest of the game, she barely noticed that a Bludger had narrowly missed Harry. She paid no more attention to him at all until she received evidence that she hadn't exited his mind yet.

  That was close.

  She looked up, where Harry had been circling the game, squinting for any sign of the Snitch.

  What was close, Harry?

  My broom. It just -

  His thought-reply was cut off by a violent lurch. She gasped.

  "What's wrong, Lily?" asked Padma.

  Lily shook her head and pointed. "It's Harry, look."

  From there, the news passed on quickly that something was wrong with Harry's broomstick.

  Lily Elizabeth Snape, daughter of Severus Tobias Snape, knew what she was looking for as she scanned the crowd with her binoculars.

  She knew who she was looking for as well.

  In the same row as her father, in the section of stands a bit to the right of where she sat and directly across from Harry's Gryfinndor friends, there was Professor Quirrell.

  Lily Elizabeth Snape, daughter of Severus Tobias Snape, could also read lips very well.

  She knew the incantation that her father was saying.

  What she did not knows was the incantation being said by Professor Quirrell.

  "Be right back," she muttered to Padma.

  She rushed over to where her father sat, noting that Hermione did as well.

  Somehow they arrived at roughly the same moment, but Hermione didn't notice her.

  Lily gave Quirrell a quick, hard shove in his back and he fell, face-forward, into the stands in front.

  She arrived back at her seat just as Harry hit the field on all four limbs.

  Are you okay?

  He didn't answer, instead, he coughed, and Lily noted a glint of gold falling into his hand.

  Harry had the Snitch.

  While Marcus Flint was howling that Harry hadn't actually caught it twenty minutes later, Lily was making her way back to the castle.

  Her mind on the match, on Professor Quirrell, and wondering weather she'd be caught, she didn't notice the man standing in her path.

  She ran headlong into him.

  Well, speak of the devil, she thought.

  "H-h-hello, M-miss Snape. W-won't you st-st-step into my office?"

  Professor Quirrell didn't look to happy.

  She had been found out.